How Dawa Yangzum Sherpa Became a Mountaineering Icon
From becoming the first Nepalese woman to be an IFMGA mountain guide, to making history in the Himalaya, she's now an inspiration to a generation of young climbers
Dawa Yangzum Sherpa is one of the most inspiring and accomplished high-altitude climbers. She’s guided several of the world’s highest mountains, and most recently worked with the National Geographic Society on Everest. She was also the first Nepalese woman to become an International Federation Mountain Guides Association (IFMGA) mountain guide with the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association (NNMGA).
Dawa Yangzum grew up in the Rolwaling Valley at 4,200 metres surrounded by tall mountains. Her village had several male climbers who guided expeditions up Everest, but she said no women had ever tried. When she was only nine years old, Dawa Yangzum told a school teacher that when she grows up, she wants to stand on top of Everest.
In 2003, at 13 years old, she left her village with a trekking group that followed a trail over Tashi Lapsa pass. For six days, she carried 30 pounds of gear through poor weather and snow to the village of Thame, her mother’s hometown. Using the money she made, she then flew to her uncle’s house in Kathmandu.
Dawa Yangzum spent the next five years caring for family and working odd jobs. In 2008, her older brother Dawa Gyalje invited her to work a 15 day trek, which she did and made $100. For the next two years, she worked as a trekking guide until 2010 when she took a 10 day course at the Khumbu Climbing Center (KCC), which was founded by Conrad Anker and Jennifer Lowe-Anker in 2003. Dawa Yangzum was invited back to the center the following year to work as an instructor.
She continued training for big mountains, climbing with the Nepal Mountaineering Association up peaks taller than 7,000 metres. Then in 2012 at age 21, Anker invited Dawa Yangzum to climb Everest as a working guide. Of the 12 Sherpas on the expedition, Dawa Yangzum was the only woman. The expedition was organized by National Geographic and The North Face to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first American ascent.
“I was working carrying loads and dropping supplementary oxygen up to camp four,” she told us. “It was hard because I really wanted to summit, but I didn’t have sponsors, which is why I was working. However, I got an opportunity to summit.”
During her time working to shuttle loads, Dawa Yangzum met American climber Emily Harrington. The two of them summited Everest together, making Dawa Yangzum the first woman from her village to stand on top of the world’s highest mountain. “My dream to climb Everest had come true, and soon after, my passion changed to my profession,” she said. “I earned quite good money on that expedition.”
After Everest, Dawa Yangzum moved to America and worked on Mount Rainier. During her time at Camp Schurman near Emmons Glacier, she met several female guides who inspired her to pursue a career as an IFMGA mountain guide. “There weren’t any female guides in Nepal,” she told us. “I wanted to try to become the first.”
The following year, Dawa Yangzum took several guiding courses before spending 25 days in the Langtang Valley, where she perfected mountaineering skills and expedition management. She went on to climb Ama Dablam, Yala Peak, Island Peak and made a first ascent on Chekigo. She said that after every summit, she just wanted to continue to push herself. After a minor mistake during one of her exams, she took a break from guide training to focus on climbing.
That summer, Dawa Yangzum, Maya Sherpa and Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita climbed K2, the world’s second highest mountain. They became the first all-female team from Nepal to climb the peak. That fall, she returned to working on becoming an IFMGA mountain guide. After graduating to the final stage of the process, she moved to America gain more experience in the world of guiding. Over the next few years, she worked random jobs, such as landscaping, until she gained employment with Alpine Ascents International, guiding trips in the Cascades. She returned to the Rolwaling Valley in 2016 to take her final IFMGA guides exam. Unfortunately, she took a lead fall during the exam, which meant she would have to try again in 2017.
After a summer of guiding in the U.S., she once again took her exam back in the Rolwaling Valley. Everything came together and she passed the exam, making history by becoming the first woman from Nepal to become an international mountain guide. “It was long journey,” she told us, “but I’m proud, and now many girls looks up to me and find hope. For that I’m very proud of myself.”
In 2019, Dawa Yangzum founded a two-week climbing course for women at the KCC. It teaches mountaineering, trekking, first aid, safety and geology, as well as advises young girls how to deal with some of life’s challenges. After a decade of working to become and IFMGA mountain guide, Dawa Yangzum said that she’s happy to give back. She said that people need to love what they’re doing to be good at their jobs, and she’s happy to help them to learn how to do so.
When asked what her most challenging ascent has been, she said, “Annapurna was the hardest for me, as I was climbing without supplementary oxygen, and I was with the rope-fixing team on summit day.” In 2021, she and Pasang Lhamu Sherpa Akita became the first Nepali women to summit the mountain without bottled O2. They were part of a group of six women who climbed Annapurna that day, the others being Purnima Shrestha, Dabhuti Sherpa, Sharmila Tamang and Maya Sherpa.
The following year, Dawa Yangzum guided an all-women group up Lobuche (6,119 m). She said the the only guides on the trip were women. “The trip was 100 per cent successful,” she said. “With its main intention to encourage, inspire and pave a way for underprivileged women, mostly from remote areas, into climbing. It was productive two-week trip mentoring and sharing experiences with these women from different backgrounds.”
For nearly two decades, Dawa Yangzum has been empowering women around her, and is now a role model inspiring the next generation. “We must have goals and dreams, but also the patience and focus to accomplish them,” she told us. “Never let opportunity slip away.”
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